Released August 2008

PARACELSUS
ARCHIDOXES  MAGICAE

1656

~ Of  the Spirits of the Planets ~
~ Of Occult Philosophy ~

~ The Magickal, Sympathetical & Antipathetical ~

~ Cure of Wounds and Diseases ~

~ The Mysteries of the Twelve Signs of the Zodiack ~

Englished by Robert Turner Philomathes

Reflecting the tastes of the 18^th century Gothic Revival and particularly inspired by the architecture of Sir Francis Dashwoods famous caves at West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire in the United Kingdom, the site of the Hell Fire Clubs most secret conclaves.

Limited to 40 copies, 33 are offered here for your aquisition. Printed on archival rag paper with a rubricated title page and finely bound by hand in the time honoured fashion of traditional English Craft Binding Hell Fire Club Books are infamous for.

. .33 copies are half bound with corners in natural kidskin and virgin parchment.
. Each inscribed in sepia ink and numbered 1-33.
. T ooled in blind with 5 corded pallets to the spine.
. O ornate scrollwork incorporating leaves and infernal torches to the corners and fronts.
. F ront boards covered in virgin parchment have the title printed in letterpress by hand using dark olive ink.
. Initial letter hand gilted in 23 carat gold leaf, as an enlarged drop-capital all in gothic characters.
. Each copy fully sewn by hand onto linen tapes.
. M ade handsome with antique marbled endpapers of the finest quality.
. Polished with beeswax and stiff-leaved onto the book head and tailbands to compliment the colouration of the leather.

Information regarding content and the binding of the other 7 bound copies may be found here

Ltd 33 on left now available, Ltd 7 on right (Sold)

Contents

______________

Archidoxes Magicae comprises three parts:

i)                    The Secrets of Alchemy: containing matter on the spirits & bodies of the planets, the tinctures and how they are made, of the conjuction of male and female, the  forms of the glass instruments, vessels, furnace etc etc. Muiltiplication, philosophical conjuction, of the red tincture and on  ‘..buds appearing in ye glasse..

 

ii)                   Of Occult Philosophy:  of Consecrations, of Ceremonies Magical, Conjuctions, characters, on the powers of the Pentagon and Hexagon, supernatural diseases, dreams & visions, terrestrial spirits, possession and ‘..the great abuse of the magick art by them that use it for negromancy and witchcraft..’

 

iii)                 Of  the Mysteries of the Signes of the Zodiack: being the Magnetical and Sympathetical Cure of Diseases ‘as they are appropriated under the Twelve Signes Ruling the Partes of the Body’. Part (i) giving a selection of ailments and their alchemic and talismanic remedies, an elegant synthesis of  astrological and sympathetic magic. The instructions for constructing the famous ‘Trident of the Magic Arte’, which in this text is actually a silver lamen used in conjuction with operations to cure the generative organs. Part (ii)  comprises a complete textbook of astro-alchemic talismanic magic for the cure of disease, each sign allotted a pair of circular magic figures to be engraved upon talismans composed of a balance of metals peculiar to it, such as Gemini whose seal is composed of a regulus of gold and silver in equal proportion:  

  

“… Let them both be melted together, the Sun entering the sign of Gemini….when the work is completed let the quicksilver be poured into the quill, the day and hour of Mercury, the moon decreasing..”

 

 

The end of the volume comprises a short treatise on killing with poisons, on preservation of livestock by talismanic means, and a curious magical weapon used to drive away insects.

 

“A Table Shewing the Fit Times to Transmute Metals” as a final addendum gives an excellent guide in the application of the talismanic instructions found throughout the book...

 

PAYMENT & POSTAGE DETAILS

 

 

Each of the 33 limited edition copies being priced at £108

Choose your payment option based on your location

Plus Postage & Packing
£4 GBP - UK/Europe

Total £112 GBP

Plus Postage & Packing
£8 GBP - USA and Rest of World

Total £116 GBP

The following 7 copies have now been sold
7 copies fully bound in honey coloured sheepskin, 5 raised bands, each inscribed in sepia ink  after the ‘..spirits and tinctures..’ of the alchemical metals, tooled in blind with period handtools from the binders collection: head and tail panels to spine with stamped borders refelecting the original printers devices, maltese crosses between panels, double lines to the raised bands; front boards are tooled with a panel baroque corners around a floral centrepiece dated circa 1700. Each copy fully sewn by hand onto linen tapes, made handsome with antique marbled endpapers of the finest quality polished with beeswax, and stiff-leaved to the book, head and tailbands to compliment the colouration of the leather.